Winchester Residents Could Be Faced with Override Vote this Spring

A year ago, when faced with a , Winchester residents

This year, faced with another deficit, residents may need to make another decision on an override.

According to Acting Town Manager, Mary Ellen Lannon, the town is looking at a $451,000 deficit in FY’13. However, the town’s preliminary budget for the schools increases its budget 2 to 2.5 percent. The estimated mandated items for the school district require nearly a four percent increase.

“We feel that this funding level would be catastrophic to the school system at a time when they are experiencing enrollment growth, increases in out of district placements and other IEP requirements,” Lannon said.

The School Department, which is still working on next year’s budget, does not believe it will be able to support the demands of the district without an override.

“It’s clear that in order to meet the major needs of the district we’re going to need an operational override to accomplish that,” Superintendent William McAlduff said.

After last year’s failed override, McAlduff said that the district had to . And the same could happen this year if there’s no override.

“It’s going to be difficult to do anything substantial without seriously looking at an operational override,” McAlduff said. “Our proposed budget is going to require an override of some magnitude.”

A year ago, the override coincided with the town elections. McAlduff said that hopefully this year the override could be pushed back to May, which would give the district about handle on its budget and the residents more information before heading to the polls.

“I want to let the public know that this is something that’s seriously being considered,” McAlduff said. “Without one there could be a serious impact on the school budget.”

According to McAlduff, in two years, there’s a projected deficit of $1.5 million, which would require the schools to layoff approximately 15 staff members across the district. Last year, the schools need to cut $380,000 from its budget after the override failed.

“In a community like this, you expect the need to pass a general operations override once every five to six years,” McAlduff said. “It’s one of the only ways to maintain the level of excellence the community expects. The last override that was passed was in 2007, that would be five years.”

While no decision has been made, it is the recommendation of the Town Manager staff that an override be placed on the ballot again this year.

“Consistent with the 3-year financial plan that we developed last spring … we recommend that an override for FY 2013 be placed on the ballot for this annual spring election,” Lannon said. “Without this additional funding we feel that the quality of education and municipal services will be compromised.”